America as Number Four

Discouraging trends in 'Doing Business.'

October 28, 2011

The World Bank released its annual "Doing Business" report last week, and friends of the Obama Administration are crowing that it debunks the notion that the U.S. has become a regulatory jungle since President Obama took office. Maybe they should read it more carefully.

The report, which uses various indicators to rank 183 countries on the ease of doing business, puts the U.S. in fourth place for 2012, behind Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand. That's up a notch from its fifth-place finish last year, but down one...